What Have You Fettled Today?

[fossyant]

Rim delivered late morning, wheel rebuilt in my lunch break and now back on the bike ready for tomorrow's commute.

 

[EckyH]

Changed the waxed chain and the cassette on the commuter.
What a difference... compared to oiled chains: just a bit dust to wipe off the fingers, no more black mess everywhere.

E.

 

[Gunk]

Changed the waxed chain and the cassette on the commuter.
What a difference... compared to oiled chains: just a bit dust to wipe off the fingers, no more black mess everywhere.

E.

I run a waxed chain on my motorcycle, much cleaner but it needs rewaxing far more often than wet lube. It’s dried out on a couple of occasions, so I have to keep a very close eye on it

 

[Andy in Germany]

Changed the waxed chain and the cassette on the commuter.
What a difference... compared to oiled chains: just a bit dust to wipe off the fingers, no more black mess everywhere.

E.

When you say "Waxed" what does that mean? I'm guessing it's not regular bearing wax.

 

[EckyH]

When you say "Waxed" what does that mean?

The chain is lubricated with chain wax: degreased (with cellulose thinner), put in melted wax ("hot wax") and the weekly care is done with a water based drip wax. Despite it is a bit more effort and "drip waxing" requires more planning than oil based lubricants (because the water in the drip wax needs a few hours to vaporise) I don't want to go back to oiled chains.

E.

 

[Andy in Germany]

The chain is lubricated with chain wax: degreased (with cellulose thinner), put in melted wax ("hot wax") and the weekly care is done with a water based drip wax. Despite it is a bit more effort and "drip waxing" requires more planning than oil based lubricants (because the water in the drip wax needs a few hours to vaporise) I don't want to go back to oiled chains.

E.

Thanks for that. Probably not practical for work, but very useful for my own bikes.

 

[EckyH]

What is the opposite to "lace up"? "Lace down"?

When a simple mind tries to implement a "mise en place" scheme - what can go wrong?
Put a pile of 282mm spokes here and a pile of 284mm spokes there to lace up another rear wheel for the Langschenkelrenner. You probably guess it: half of both piles bizarrely ended up at the wrong side of the wheel. So I had to correct 16 failures yesterday. My own mistakes. On the plus side: now I know a new possibility to muddle a wheel.

E.

 

[Spiderweb]

A bit of fettling for my 2010 Tricross Comp.
New cantilever rear brake, cable and straddle wire.
Rear wheel trued.
Cleaned and lubed.

 

[november4]

I degreased all of our bike chains last year, and just use squirt wax, love it

 

[HLaB]

Replaced the snapped rear gear cable on my TT bike. The Campagnolo shifter heads seem prone to snapping. In the morning I might add some grease in there.

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

Replaced the Brooks Cambium C15 saddle on the CGR Ti with a Selle Italia SLR TI 316 Superflow. Some careful measuring seems to have it more or less in the same position. All the bolts torqued back up with a torque wrench. I'd have gone for the TM flavour, rather than the TI flavour as I could find that somewhat cheaper. But going on a titanium bike, the TI flavour seemed to be the way to go.

Replaced the stock Bontranger saddle on the Trek Distict with a Selle Italia ST7 Vision Superflow. Also changed out the pedals (plastic bodied ones swapped for metal bodied ones) and added some Cateye light bracketery so there are hard mounts for two Cateye snap system lights.

There's some pictures in this thread.

Fingers crossed the saddles mean I get a bit less sore now.

 

[Jameshow]

Laced up two front wheels yesterday evening. One is for the Ridley X-Bow, with a Novatec hub and a DT Swiss X470 rim I found in the fund.
The other one for the Langschenkelrenner is some kind of "the early 90s called and made me an offer I couldn't resist": years ago someone sold me a pair of red anodised Rigida DP18. Recently I got a set of Shimano Ultegra 6500 hubs in very good condition - a real good match for the rims, imho.
The remaining question is: Why are there much more parts for front wheels in every fund than parts for rear wheels? The same question applys to complete wheels...

E.

Generally rear wheels have a harder life ime.

Both putting power down and braking...

Also I'm more likely to pull up from wheel over a pothole not so much the back....

 

[lazybloke]

Much fettling of the RD needed to get it working with 2 teeth more on the cassette than Shimano say is supported. Had to fiddle with chain length and cable tension, and for a while even tried with a different RD (which didn't work AT ALL).

All beautiful now, except the gear cable end is all frayed. DAMN!
Where my ferrules or nipples or whatever they're called?

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

A nice set of used wheels ($60) and a 1940ish Miller headlight for the rat bike. Now if I was to repair that notchy headset the old lump might actually be worth something.

 

[8mph]

Yesterday two brand new folding tyres arrived for the Dawes Sardar. I fitted an old tyre to the rear and one of the folding tyres to the front, which immediately looked slightly off center. I checked the bead, took it for what felt like a slightly wobbly ride to the shops, decided to reinvestigate in the morning.

The tyre has been on and off the rim several times now, rim tape checked, fitted with new, narrower tube, tried washing up liquid, manipulating the tyre every which way. Eventually unboxed the second folding tyre, which mounted fine first time.

The old budget Kenda tyres are off and the bike now has an old 2" Continental Contact Travel on the rear and a new 1.75" on the front. I've had a few wonky Contis over the years, not sure if it's just bad luck or quality control.

On a plus note the tyres were on sale, 50% off (SJS)